Austin’s POV

“It’s Wednesday and we’ve been here since Monday, is she really here?” Aaron asked me. We sat at the hotel room late at night. Although my two other companions were determined to find her as much as I was, they were wearing out. We had searched the city for the past two days and hadn’t seen as much as a glimpse of her.

It was eleven o’clock and the lights of the city were alive and pulsing. Car honked and growled on the street under us. I shrugged on a jacket, knowing that Kynder was a night person and might be walking around this late at night.

“She has to be here. I know it. Kyn’s not going to skip this place for anything. We just need to find out where she’s holed up and go talk to her.” I zipped up the covering and headed outside, slipping my phone and card key in with me. Alan and Aaron trailed closely behind.

We decided not to take the trucks and instead walk around for a little. People hopefully wouldn’t want to mess with three tattooed men in leather jackets late at night. The air had a vicious nip to it and I saw each huff of air I exhaled.

Ten minutes later, we had found nothing. We stood at a corner where a homeless man sat. Alan nudged me and discreetly gestured towards the man. I shrugged and gestured back to him. Aaron looked at both of us with a confused expression.

“Excuse me, but can you help us?” Alan asked the man sitting alone on the corner. Cars winked by on either side of the street. A woman and men passed by, fingers linked together.

“I feel like I should be asking that question.” The man choked out a hoarse laugh. Alan eased up. The ginger was always great talking to people.

“We’re looking for a girl named Kynder. She’s a friend of ours and we need to talk to her.” The man froze up, glaring at Alan with a cold expression. We all waited to see his reaction.

“You’re collectors, aren’t you?” He squinted at each of us. Aaron held up his hands in surrender to the accusation.

“No, no. We’re actually trying to save her from the collectors. She might be in trouble and we need to find her-quickly.” Aaron explained. The man stayed silent, but his stone hard expression softened. Aaron reached in and dropped a five into the man’s hand.

“Her alley is hard to reach. Just go down Empire Street and the alley entrance is on the left. There’s quite a few twists and turns.” With those simple directions, we thanked the man and started off towards the direction. Finally, a lead!

“Here’s the street.” I pointed out to the two. A few restaurant signs blinked a welcome gesture. The late night bars hummed with energy from the people inside. As we walked along the street, we spotted a small gap between buildings. A light flickered ominously as we started down Kyn’s alley. The old man on the street was right. There were many twists and turns that had us confused.

As we pushed on, we stopped at a place that backed up a factory on the right. To the left was an abandoned building and a seafood restaurant that was closed. Everything seemed to be dark. The only exception was a light post on the side of the abandoned building.

I held up my hand to Aaron and Alan as two voices wafted up to us from around the corner. The broken boards created a small barricade to hide behind as I peeked around. Two men in all grey clothing stood to the west side of the abandoned house. One of them held a lighter and gas tank. A silvery line of gas lead from the entrance of the house to where they stood.

“Are you sure this is the house Miles was talking about?” One asked in a gruff voice. The other nodded his confirmation. Aaron’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in amazement. I knew the name well. It was the old, abusive

“The target is here. I saw Kynder crawl in a drainage pipe earlier today. She probably didn’t even see me.” The other laughed. So this was where Kyn lived! The wooden boards creaked as a dry wind brushed through the alley.

“This’ll smoke her out. The master will be waiting up on the hill. I can’t believe those fools let her escape! She’ll be Miles’s slave once again.” The first whispered softly, but the anger and lust for revenge was apparent in his voice.

“That brat will learn her lesson.” The second flickered the lighter to life. The flame burst out. I almost crashed through the dry boards to stop it, but the canister had already reached the liquid.

The house was ablaze in an instant, and the men in grey disappeared.

The three of us lunged forward, anxious to reach Kynder. Before we could reach the flames, shattered glass exploded out the other side of the house.

“Kynder escaped!” Alan called to us above the roar of red tongues. The flames lapped up each dry board, turning them into ash. We watched as Kynder ran across the top of the restaurant next to her and sprinted to the stairwell.

“We have to get her away from the hill! Get to her and grab her!” I commanded Alan and Aaron. If she reached whichever hill that the men were talking about, then she would be taken.

“Got it!” They both called and took off at a sprint. Our feet carried us faster, but Kynder was already down the stairwell, alerted to our footsteps.

She kept dodging down alleys and around buildings. The late night traffic drowned out all pleas for her to stop. Kyn was too full of adrenaline to listen. All she heard was the sound of feet coming to take her away.

As soon as she dodged down another twist, three bodies leapt out of the shadows and tackled us. We rolled around, struggling to get free.

“Please, we have to find Kynder!” I begged and gasped as someone threw me to the ground. These guys were strong!

“Kynder?” In an instant, the three of them let us up.

“She’s being chased to the hill where she’ll be taken! You’ve got to help us!” I begged them. Our attackers were not men, but three women in jackets much too large for them and covered with holes. Their hair was dirty and in snarls.

“So you’re not the men in grey?” A woman of about age twenty four asked suspiciously. I shook my head. We had to go!

“No! We need to hurry!” I begged them.

“The hill must be the graveyard. Rylie, go warn Brecker. You three, let’s go!” The youngest girl departed as the other two went with us as they led our small party out of the city. Man, these two were quick on their feet!

We struggled to keep up with them as they lead us past the train yard and towards the hill. A fence squared off a large section of the open space. A single tree was in the back corner of the yard. There were no official grave stones, but many rocks had black letters burned into them.

We fleetly picked our way to the tree that had an old rocking chair underneath. The night darkness made everything look like desolate figures.

No one was to be seen. I swore quietly under my breath. The two homeless woman walked around the border, agitated by the loss of target.

“Hey, isn’t this her pack?” Alan asked as he ducked behind the chair. I turned on my phone light and shone it to the object Alan held. Sure enough, it was.

The grey bag was torn in many places, but still remained to hold together its contents. We found her signature beanie a few feet away. Footprint scuffles marred the dirt next to it.

“Damn! We lost her!” Alan cried out as his face twisted into an angry frown.

“Wait.” The oldest woman held up her hand. The wind bellowed ominously. All at once, we turned around to a small sound behind us.

“She was here, so was the man. He took her by the throat, he choked her until she gasped and passed out. The man dragged her body back to a truck parked nearby. They drove out south, then turned west. I could see their headlights from the tree. He said he was going to kill her to be rid of this pest over the weekend.” A small child with dark circles under her eyes murmured. The old woman nodded her head.

“Thank you, Wyst. You’ve been a great help. Go down and see Brecker. Say breakfast is on me.” The oldest woman nodded. The small girl, only about seven smiled and skipped off.

She freaked me out. First she wasn’t there, then she reappeared like a ghost in the middle of the night. Now her figure had disappeared.

“Wyst stays here. She likes to climb the tree and protect the graves after people try to destroy the rocks.” The younger woman murmured to us. I nodded, but couldn’t get the cold feeling out of me.

Miles was going to kill Kynder. She was going to die this time. There was no second chances.

Notes